Improvement in fans



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE MALLORY, OF WATERTOWN, CONNECTICUT.

||v|PRovE|v|ENT |N FANS.

Fo all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE MALLOEY, of Watertown, in the county of Litchfield and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and Improved Fan; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part ot' this specification, in which- Figure l is a front elevation of my invention, partly in section. Fig'. 2 is a side elevation of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

The invention consists in the employment or use of a spring, made of steel or other suitable material, similar to the springs or wires used l for hoop-skirts, in combination. with the material from which the fan is made, in such a manner that by passing said spring through a loop or open seam on the edge of the material the fan is stretched and the requisite stiffness is imparted to it, and by these means a simple, cheap, and elegant fan can be produced at a comparatively trifling expense.

A represents a piece of silk or other suitable textile fabric, which is cut out inthe form of a circle or in any suitable form or shape, and provided at its edge with an open seam or loop, a, whichmay be produced either by turning over the edge of the fabric A or by sewing' to said edge a strip, b, of silk, ribbon,

or other suitable material, as shown in Fig. 1. Through said loop a spring o is passed, and the ends of this spring are turned down and inserted in the handle B, as indicated in dotted line-s in Fig. l.

Said handle lnay be made of ivory, wood, orv

any other suitable material, and the fabric A may either be perfectly plain and smooth or it may be gathered up, as shown in Fig. l, and ornamented in the center by buttons d or in any other suitable manner.

By the action of the spring 0 the fabric Ais stretched and the requisite stiffness is imparted to it to act as a fan, and if desired the fan may be folded up in a very small compass and carried in the pocket.

It is obvious that.the spring may be made of steel or any other suitable material, and its ends may either be held by the handle, as previously described, or they may be secured in any other suitable manner. The handle B may be fastened to the fan in various different ways, and I do not wish to confine myself to the precise arrangement of parts hereinbefore described. I

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- A fan constructed substantially as shown and described.

GEORGE MALLORY.

' Witnesses:

SHERwooD STERLING, HENRY K. W. WELCH. 

